Sophos Anti-Virus brings home the gold in Information Security's 2004 "Products of the Year" awards

Security Managers name Sophos Anti-Virus the "Product of the
Year" in Anti-virus/Anti-worm category based on technical know-how,
expedient response and customer service.

Lynnfield, MA - Sophos, a global leader in anti-virus, anti-spam
and policy-based network security, announces today that the editors
of TechTarget's Information Security and TheInfoPro (TIP) have
awarded Sophos Anti-Virus the gold award in the
Anti-virus/Anti-worm category in the 2004 "Products of the Year"
Awards, published in the December issue of Information Security and
online here.

The article comments, "Sophos Anti-Virus isn't just winning the
gold award, it's setting the standard for anti-virus excellence."
Specifically, editors cited technical expertise, responsiveness and
customer service as key elements, as well as Sophos's unique
InterCheck technology and Remote Update features as features highly
rated by business users. In addition, enterprise customers
interviewed also made special reference to Sophos's anti-spam
capability in its email server/gateway product PureMessage.

"Anti-virus technology continues to be one of the most critical
security needs for an organization," said Chris Kraft, vice
president of marketing at Sophos, Inc. "Our recent analysis of 2004
threats identified 10,724 new viruses in 2004 alone - an increase
of 51% from 2003. Given the speed at which new threats develop,
organizations need to ensure that their defenses are being
constantly updated and revised with the most current techniques.
We're proud to have been so recognized by those that matter most:
our customers."

To select the winners, analysts from TheInfoPro interviewed 416
security managers working in 273 companies, evaluating a total of
1,239 products. The resulting gold, silver and bronze winners were
selected based on composite scores using the following
criteria:

Vendor's brand or reputation

Quality of product

Delivery of product as promised

Quality of technical support

Technical innovation

Strategic vision

Competitive positioning of product

Quality of the sales team

Interoperability

Ease of doing business with the vendor

"The true test of a product is how well it performs once the
shrink-wrap is removed," said Larry Walsh, editor, Information
Security. "For that reason, the Information Security 'Products of
the Year' Awards rely on the evaluations of the infosecurity
managers actually using these products in their organizations. Each
of the products and companies represented by the winners of the
2004 'Products of the Year' Awards were rated as delivering
superior performance, functionality, usability and customer
service. The Information Security 2004 'Products of the Year
Awards' honor products that are in place, working as advertised to
protect enterprise network infrastructures, instead of collecting
dust on a shelf."

About Information Security

A monthly magazine distributed to a qualified, controlled
circulation of 60,000 IT security professionals, TechTarget's
Information Security is widely regarded as the single most
authoritative source for in-depth coverage of security
technologies, practices, and trends. The magazine's more than 100
advertisers include the leading vendors of security services and
technologies, among them, IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, CA, RSA Security,
Symantec and VeriSign.

About TheInfoPro

TheInfoPro (TIP) investigates key technology sectors in
six-month intervals or "waves" by interviewing hundreds of IT
decision makers, pre-screened for domain expertise, for an average
of one hour each. Known as the "voice of the customer," thousands
of IT professionals, technology providers and institutional
investors rely on TIP research for robust data on vendor spending
and ratings, technology adoption plans - overlaying the vendors
poised to benefit - and rich narrative commentary. TIP studies the
Information Security, Storage, Networking, and Server markets. Over
800 technology decision makers are members of the TIPNetwork,
including IT decision makers from JPMorgan Chase, BellSouth,
Honeywell, P&G and Visa. To learn more about TIP's independent,
objective research process, where results are delivered without any
analyst spin or bias, visit TheInfoPro website.